Powerchute Business v Deluxe

[Anonymous user]

Hi,

We have been running Powerchute Business Edition Basic (which came with our Smart UPS) on our 2003 Server SBS and as far as I know, it has only had to close down the server once, which it did with no apparent problems.

However, I notice that the Business Edition Deluxe, in addition to "Graceful, unattended system shutdown", also has the capability to close down Exchange Server.

I assumed that Powerchute sent a command to the server which was the equivalent of selecting Start-Shut Down, in which case all services including Exchange are closed anyway.

What does the Deluxe do to close Exchange that is special?

Thanks.

[Anonymous user]

Afterdark,

The Deluxe runs a script specifically to shutdown the Exchange server safely.

Afterdark Stated:
"I assumed that Powerchute sent a command to the server which was the equivalent of selecting Start-Shut Down, in which case all services including Exchange are closed anyway."

This is correct. Without deluxe the shutdown that the software does is identical to just selecting Start-Shut down.

In that case though there is potential for corruption when the exchange server shuts down. The same corruption is possible if you were to Start-Shutdown the PC without first closing the exchange server.

I hope this helps your question.

[Anonymous user]

TheBackup,

Thanks for the reply and while it certainly answers my question, it does raise another point.

My understanding has always been that if I use Start-Shut Down to close our 2003 SBS server, which then takes a good 2 or 3 minutes to actually close, the system carefully and "gracefully" shuts down, handling every service correctly, including situations where someone has left a PC on with Outlook open. The idea that this procedure can potentially corrupt Exchange has never crossed my mind.

Are you referring to a non SBS setup, where Exchange may be running on a different server or have I been risking problems every time I restart our server after a software update, for instance?

[BillP · Accepted solution]

i am not sure what TheBackup was getting at but the shutdown DLLs are designed to minimize time to recovery - To "minimize the time it takes to make data available after a disaster"

also:

Specify shutdown sequence ensuring sufficient time for each application to close safely. Supports Lotus Notes/Domino, MS-SQL Server, MS-IIS, MS-Exchange, and Siebel eBusiness Applications on Windows. (Deluxe version only.)

so it is basically a file that will shutdown the exchange service gracefully so that the computer doesnt shutdown before that is done - because i think there are some circumstances where maybe the machine can lock up while trying to shut everything down, especially when in a rush before the power goes out. this utility can stagger your application shutdown to make sure the most important items are shutdown and then the OS is shutdown.